A MAN who tossed a loaded revolver into gardens as he fled from police was today starting a five-year jail sentence

The 9mm, 0.380 calibre weapon landed in a children’s paddling pool after Dean Ellison lobbed it over garden fences.

Ellison, 21, was being chased by a police officer after a taxi he was in was pulled over.

On Monday Liverpool crown court heard him plead guilty to both possessing a firearm and possessing ammunition.

Judge David Aubrey QC sentenced Ellison, of Othello Close, Kirkdale, to five years in prison for having the gun and another 12 months for the ammunition, to run concurrently.

The judge said: “Guns maim, guns terrorise, guns can kill – and in particular when they are in the hands of criminals. There are far too many guns readily available within society and within this city.”

Robert Jansen, prosecuting, told the court Ellison caught the cab in Stanley Road, Bootle, on July 6 with two others.

The three men had asked to go to the Moss Lane area of Bootle.

But Mr Jansen added: “As the vehicle was passing into Hawthorne Road, police officers saw the taxi and indicated for it to stop.”

The driver pulled over and Ellison and the men ran off.

Mr Jansen said: “There was a pursuit in the streets.

The defendant was seen holding what was described as a silver object with a piece of black fabric.”

Ellison was seen launching the gun into the gardens at the back of a row of terraced houses.

It ended up in the empty paddling pool at the back of a house in Monfa Road, Bootle.

Armed officers recovered the weapon and found it was loaded with five bullets, although it could not be fired without being modified first.